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Deutsche Bank has tightened its annual leave policy for its traders and demanded they take 10 consecutive working days of holiday at least once a year to help safeguard against fraud, according to an internal memo.

The memo came from Peter Henrici, chief operating officer of transaction management at Deutsche Bank, who said the policy was "designed as an important internal control to safeguard the perpetration of fraud," according to people who have seen the memo.

Previously each region was responsible for the implementation of their own mandatory time-away policy. The new policy will be administered globally and is aimed at tightening the bank's standards.

The new policy will likely mean few changes for traders in Deutsche Bank's biggest markets of Europe and the US, where regulation is relatively stringent, according to a source close to the bank. Deutsche Bank declined to comment.

The UK's Financial Services Authority published guidance on investment banks' systems and control operations to protect against rogue trader risk in March.

One of its considerations was whether traders took an annual two week holiday, after Société Générale trader Jerome Kerviel's positions led to €4.9bn in losses, which were uncovered in January. He had taken just four days holiday in the previous year.